Maria Dunn

BIO/DESCRIPTION

2022 Juno Award winning songwriter Maria Dunn draws deeply on the folk tradition of storytelling through song. Melding North American roots music with her Scottish-Irish heritage, she sings about the resilience and grace of “ordinary” people, past and present. Along with multimedia shows Packingtown, GWG: Piece by Piece, On The River (with Asani) and Troublemakers, developed in collaboration with Don Bouzek of Ground Zero Productions, Maria has seven independent CDs, including Gathering (2017 Juno Nominee, 2017 WCMA Nominee, 2016 Edmonton Music Prize Winner), Piece By Piece (2013 Canadian Folk Music Award Nominee), The Peddler (2009 CFMA Nominee), and 2004 people’s history of Alberta, We Were Good People. Her seventh album Joyful Banner Blazing (2021) celebrates resilience, gratitude, solidarity and the love that fires our actions to make the world a better place. Produced by Shannon Johnson (of Juno-winning band The McDades), Joyful Banner Blazing (2022 Juno Winner – Traditional Roots Album of the Year; 2022 Western Canadian Music Award – Nominee – Roots Artist of the Year) achieved #6 on Alberta-wide CKUA Radio’s Top 100 albums played in 2021 and #2 on The Penguin Eggs 2021 Critics’ Albums of the Year (Roots Music Canada).

Amiskwacîwâskahikan/Edmonton-based, Maria tours internationally. Her songwriting accolades include publication in Penguin Eggs, Sing Out! and Rise Again.

Living Tradition, UK “Seven albums in, and Maria Dunn here cements her reputation as a songwriter and performer of the greatest integrity…works of art that are both subtle and heartfelt.” (Grem Devlin, Spring 2021)

Edmonton Journal “Maria Dunn’s Joyful Banner Blazing elevates our humanism…its meditative scope full of sacrifice, familiar echoes & joy will remind you we’ll always get to the other side…” (Fish Griwkowsky, Jan 2021)